MaShawn sent a message to Joseph H. Boardman – CEO, Amtrak – Email Address that said:
Good Morning Mr. Boardman,
I'm reaching out to you to express my frustrations with the company that you so proudly hold the title as CEO with (Amtrak).
I'll start with including my reservation . On July 8, I treated my sister and myself to a long overdue day trip to Chicago (via Amtrak #351). With all that consumes the world in today's time, we were very excited about this trip. As a first time Amtrak passenger, I was completely excited for the experience in itself. Unfortunately, that excitement soon surpassed me with pure frustration , disappointment and anxiety.
The passengers of Train #351 arrived to Chicago 1hr and 20mins late . As a result of this my sister and I missed out on reservation that were made for an 11:30am "Boat Brunch" . I reached out to Amtrak Customer Service, where I had the pleasure of speaking with "Lou", who was very apologetic and helpful to me . Lou, instructed me to go into my local Amtrak station on Monday morning, where I would receive a refund for a portion of my trip. I appreciated the gesture, however my time was still lost and my experience had been cheapened tremendously.
Let's fast forward to my return trip. Long story short, Train #354 arrived back in Detroit, roughly 32 mins late. As a result of this, my transportation home was an issue to say the least.
On Monday morning at 7:40 a.m., July 11, I return to my local Amtrak station, as I was instructed to do. Where the gentleman explains to me "All refunds are done by phone, through our Guest Relations Dept." At this point, (I'm beginning to feel Amtrak is further behind in Customer Service, Social Media Presence, Customer Retention etc , than what I assumed you were on Friday.) i call back to the Guest Relation line and again I speak with Lou. Surprisingly, Lou is not as helpful nor is he in the least bit apologetic on the behalf of Amtrak. Lou informed that he would not be issuing a refund to me, however he could give me a voucher, after I repeatedly expressed to him "Never again will i be a passenger of Amtrak, nor would I suggest Amtrak as a way of travel to anyone" . I asked Lou if there were anyone else that I'd be able to speak with and he replied "No, I'm It', with a voice filled with attitude and annoyance.
I have taken my experience with your company to Social Media as well as my blogs (seeing as I'm an avid traveler, and many of my followers seek me for travel recommendations) I would not want them to be blind sided by Amtrak in the way that I was.
Also, Lou advised me that under the Amtrak policy, Amtrak does not guarantee times of arrival to your destination, Amtrak only guarantees that theyll get you to your destination. Is this accurate? If so, that's something that should be revisited.
I'm looking forward to hearing from a representative of your company, although i must say, with my experience thus far my expectations are low, if any at all.
Thank You,
MaShawn
